The museum is housed in the Baronial Palace, formerly the feudal residence of the Altemps.

It was rebuilt after the war and recently restored in order to be used as a museum. It was founded in 1999 after Valter Mita's donation of a collection of objects gathered during the last 30 years and belonging to the Santerno valley and to the plain of Bologna.

The museum keeps tools for the cultivation of the land and for the domestic transformation of country products, instruments for the spinning and weaving, handworks connected with the cycle of wine, handicraft tools, objects for the picking of gravel from the river and for the extraction of chalk.

The intent is to transmit the material culture of the region through these objects. The gatherings are arranged in different halls exposing the material and symbolic history of every object through pictures, archive documents and informative panels.

It is possible to take part in guided visits and laboratory activities (week-days only, upon reservation).